Friday, December 9, 2011

Detoxification - An Essential Process

Detoxification is a buzzword we hear more and more recently, especially in Complementary and Alternative Medicine circles. But what does detoxification actually mean and is it even worth your time to think about it? Well yes, it probably is because the world we live in is so filled with toxicants (commonly called “toxins”) that even the strongest and healthiest among us are being assaulted every day with chemicals that our bodies must cope with (detoxify and remove) in order for us to survive. If our load of poisons is more than we (or each of our particular genetics) can handle, then this toxic exposure will eventually make us sick or could eventually even kill us. Our bodies, through normal operation, produce a base load of toxins that we need to process to keep functioning. We do have a capacity to detoxify more, but even if you happen to be extraordinarily careful and try to avoid every toxin in the world, there will come a time when you are accidentally exposed to a dose of some kind of toxic substance. Your body must detoxify all of these toxins in order for you to maintain your health. Fortunately, our bodies have ways of handling foreign contaminants, primarily through the liver and kidneys. Clearing out toxic substances is known as detoxification, and our bodies are pretty good at it most of the time. But, there are some cases when your body needs just a little bit of help.How can we help our bodies to detoxify and is it worth the bother?THE HISTORY OF TOXINSWe, as humans, evolved to be able to handle certain problematic substances that are in our environment or diet (infections, injury, animal bites, and poisonous plants were the primary toxins we dealt with for most of our evolution). Humans eventually started mining our own toxic substances. A good early example of this is the mining and using heavy metals like lead. During the Roman Empire people used make up and even “health” supplements created using lead, which caused significant illness in those exposed. Humans also experimented with toxic substances using them for manufacturing (e.g. using mercury to make men’s top-hats, leading to the now familiar description of top-hat manufacturers as “Mad as a Hatter”).But the last 100 - 200 years has seen an explosion in the development and use of new and particularly dangerous toxic substances. This is primarily because chemistry has matured and humans learned how to assemble all kinds of “useful” chemicals. Unfortunately, many of these chemicals are also very toxic and often make us sick. From pesticides to industrial waste products, the sheer amount of toxins we are exposed to on a daily basis (and most of them without us even realizing it) is absolutely staggering.HOW DOES YOUR BODY REMOVE TOXINS?To simplify a very complicated subject, there are only a few ways our body can actually remove toxins from itself. The number 1 and 2 ways are pretty obvious (i.e. urination and defecation). Of course, If you’ve ever been sick with a stomach “bug”, you are probably well acquainted with another, more extreme route -- nausea and vomiting clears out your stomach contents very quickly taking any toxins you ingested along with it. Another, less expected, way of removing toxins from our body is sweating, where the moisture and salts in our skin literally “pull” the toxins out with them. Another method of toxin removal, you may not give much thought to, is respiration. A good example of this is that every minute we breathe out excess carbon dioxide (a toxin for us). Finally, if your body can’t get rid of a toxin through any of these means, it will simply “wall off” the offending material through a process of inflammation. The problem with this last method is that the inflammation needed to wall of a toxic substance (let’s say asbestos) leads to the formation of very fibrous scar tissue. This scar tissue often is created exactly where you don’t want it, like your lungs or your arteries. This is why there was so much litigation around asbestos exposure. The body would wall off the dangerous asbestos molecules causing severe lung scarring (asbestosis) because our bodies cannot “detoxify” asbestos in any other way.FAT AND WATER

The liver processes fat soluble toxins
so that they can be eliminated
through your intestines as bile.

Toxins fall into two broad categories, fat soluble and water soluble. This means that a given chemical can only really be stored in fat or water, but usually not both. For instance, vitamins A, D, E, and K are fat soluble, so they are stored in fat cells in your body, the liver specifically. While vitamins are not toxins, it illustrates how things can be stored and transported in the body. Because they need fat to make their way into your body, this is why many supplements are supposed to be taken with a meal.The body uses two different approaches to remove toxins from our bodies: Fat soluble toxins are removed by the liver through the production of bile (a digestive enzyme the liver produces) and releases it into the small intestine during digestion. Once there, it is absorbed by the fiber in your diet, and safely pushed through until you deposit it in the toilet. This is one of the big reasons why fiber is so important in your diet; without enough of it, the toxins can be reabsorbed through your intestine into your body and must be processed out again.

The kidney removes water
soluble toxins.

Water soluble toxins have a number of different ways of being detoxified and removed by our bodies. After the liver processes them into (slightly) safer versions, the “tagged” toxins travel through your bloodstream until they reach the kidneys. Once in the kidneys, the chemical tag the liver put on the toxin is recognized by the cells there and the tagged toxins are moved through to the bladder, where you can pee them out safely. This is why urine tests are so useful for recognizing imbalances in chemicals in your body, as many chemicals are removed this way if they are in excess or there is some other problem. This is also why urine tests are used to detect the “metabolites” (chemicals produced in breaking down a substance) of drugs, legal or otherwise.THE LIVERThe “go to” organ for dealing with things that don’t belong in your body is the liver. Your liver plays a number of crucial roles in your immune system as well as regulating levels of a large number of hormones and other chemicals (e.g. vitamins, blood sugar levels) that, if out of balance, could be considered toxic. Your liver is also one of the main places that medications and other drugs are broken down so that they can be removed from your body. On top of all this, the liver both aids in digestion (by producing bile to help digest fats) and sends out processed waste for removal. There are two major steps in processing toxins.Cytochrome P-450, A Detox JuggernautThe Cytochrome P-450 set of enzymes are, by far, the single most important part of how well your body processes organic chemicals like medications, hormones, and fats. It is thought that the Cytochrome P-450 group of enzymes is responsible for around 75% of the reactions that take place in human metabolism of drugs. This metabolism can include processing chemicals for removal, or even activating drugs so that they actually do something in your body. Every person’s genetic makeup causes these enzymes to be expressed slightly differently, which is the main reason why certain people are more sensitive to some chemicals than others.The cytochrome system is an extremely complex set of enzymes that perform a remarkable number of reactions in virtually every cell in your body. When your liver encounters a toxin, the cytochrome system is the first line of defense that springs into action. There are about 100 enzymes involved in this process, and they essentially convert anything they can into water-soluble chemicals that can be removed by (primarily) your kidneys.

The major detox pathways and what supports them.

Anything the cytochrome enzymes can’t convert into specifically a water-soluble chemical is transformed into a type called a reactive form, called a “free radical”. This means that an oxygen atom is tagged onto it, making it potentially more harmful, except that it then becomes a target for anti-oxidants in your body.GlutathioneOne of the most powerful anti-oxidants found in the body is a chemical called glutathione. Glutathione is found in our diet and also naturally produced by your body. It is found in fruits, vegetables, fish, and meat. It is a pretty simple compound made up of three amino acids -- cysteine, glutamic acid, and glycine. Even though it is found in a number of foods, supplementing glutathione directly does not appear to be effective, since the body can’t absorb it very well in the intestines. You can, however, supplement the levels of the amino acids it is made up of (cysteine, glutamic acid, and glycine) to allow your body to produce more as it is needed. Glutathione is the main way that our bodies remove heavy metals and many fat-soluble toxins, by binding with them and making the water-soluble for the kidney to remove.Glutathione is also one of the major ways your body processes toxins after the cytochrome system is done working on them. The cytochrome system generates a lot of “free radicals” (chemicals that can cause DNA damage as well as physical damage to many cells in the body) when processing toxins. In order to “fix” these free radicals generated from the cytochrome system, glutathione is essential. If your body runs out of glutathione because of a particularly strong or chronic exposure to toxins, these dangerous forms of toxins (free radicals) can cause significant damage.WHAT CAN I DO TO REMOVE TOXINS FROM MY BODY?While there are many things you can do to increase toxin removal, there are some small changes that make a big difference. First, avoid taking in the toxins in to your body to begin with: For example, eating organic food instead of conventionally farmed foods can remove almost all synthetic pesticides getting into your body. This alone greatly reduces the toxic load that your body must process, not to mention avoiding the nasty side effects of pesticides overall. Other important toxins to avoid are Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) like formaldehyde. See our earlier posts on pesticides and VOCs to learn more.Second, eat more fiber: Since fiber helps to remove fat soluble toxins in your intestines (released as bile) while also preventing them from being reabsorbed, increasing your fiber intake can reduce the burden of having to reprocess the toxins that don’t get a chance to clear and are reabsorbed. Charcoal appears to act in a similar fashion to fiber in this regard, absorbing and binding with potentially dangerous chemicals and poisons; this is why when someone accidentally ingests a poison, doctors may recommend taking activated charcoal, as it helps neutralize many different kinds of poisons. Products like Takesumi Supreme (finely ground carbonized bamboo) do this remarkably well, and are a safe way that I use to help my body remove potential toxins. Originally developed and sold in Japan, Takesumi can be used in water or even added to baked goods as a source of fiber, as many Japanese bakeries do. Takesumi is an extremely gentle and safe method for removing excessive heavy metals. It can be particularly helpful in removing mercury in people who have problems associated with excessive mercury buildup in their bodies.SupplementsIn addition to these changes, you could also consider taking some supplements to support the systems that work to keep you toxin-free. The best supplements to help your body remove toxins are those that act as anti-oxidants or in some way enhance the production of glutathione. These include:

Vitamin C

Vitamin E

Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA)

Selenium (found in onions, broccoli, and Brazil nuts)

S-adenosylmethione (SAMe)

amino acids like cysteine, glutamic acid, and glycine (which make up glutathione)

Milk Thistle (helps produce glutathione)

CONCLUSIONIt is important to remember that the toxins in your environment are not the only ones that your body processes. There are waste products in your metabolism that need to be processed out as well, such as hormones, ammonia (from breaking down proteins), and many others. In addition, the liver processes certain things we eat in exactly the same way as toxins, such as ethanol (from alcoholic beverages) and fructose (half of ordinary table sugar). Our post on sugar goes into more detail about why this is especially bad for our bodies, but it can also degrade the performance of the liver removing other toxins.When you add the load of environmental toxins, your body’s natural detoxification system can easily get overwhelmed. Knowing how to decrease your toxic load and increase your body’s ability to replenish its defenses is a key part of maintaining optimum health.

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Researched and written by Dr. Rebecca Malamed, M.D. with assistance from Mr. Malcolm Potter.

Thanks for your feedback. I am not familiar with using charcoal for Asbestos exposure because Asbestos is a unique problem that tends to cause lung damage rather than being a typical toxicant. I recommend your friend obtain a consultation with a physician trained in Environmental Medicine to assess her options for Asbestos exposure.

Asbestos testing may be important before beginning any home improvement project. If your home was built before 1980, it can be assumed that there are likely asbestos-containing products in your home asbestos inspector